Starring Grizzy and Sophie

My name is Rosie. Sometimes my mom calls me Rosie B or Bebe. Sometimes in the morning I’ll talk to her in the kitchen and she’ll laugh and say I am an angry bee. I don’t understand that – I’m a cat, not a bee. Plus, I’m not angry at all – I just want to remind her that I like my breakfast in the morning!

My mom is always telling me how pretty I am, so I must look pretty good! I am a calico, with a white tummy and legs and orange and brown and black on my back and tail. I like to keep myself clean at all times. The lady vet tech said I had pretty green eyes. I can only see out of one, though; I had an accident before I met my mom. No accidents since!

I did have to get some stitches and these awful metal things, though. They’re on my tummy. The vet gave them to me – he’s very nice, but I could do without them! At first it was hard to lay down, and I felt really funny, like my legs didn’t work quite right. My mom kept petting me and saying, “Oh, my little Bee.” The next day I felt a little better. I still have the stitches, but I can lay down now and my legs seem to work normal again. Mom’s been giving me lots of yummy new foods, which is nice! I especially liked the rotisserie chicken and the extra-gravy food.

During the day, I like sitting on my tower and watching the birds outside. (I haven’t gotten up to my tower lately, though. My mom says pretty soon I’ll be back to my normal jumping self.) I get really excited when I see a squirrel or a chipmunk. Once I saw a rabbit, and another time I saw a duck! Too bad I couldn’t get out there.

I like to lay on my mom when she’s home. Nothing like getting right up into her face, haha. I also like headbutting people. I like tummy rubs and pets, but I am not a big fan of the brush. I also don’t like it when my mom looks at my nails and says I have to go the the beauty shop. (That’s when she trims my nails.) I put up with it pretty well, though. Plus, my mom gives me a treat afterward.

Whew, this was tiring! I’m going to take a catnap now. Until we meow again,

Rosie is doing well! She’s eating more food. She’s eating less at a time, so I’ve been leaving her food out for a little bit. I’ve found heating up the food does wonders, as well.

(Fair warning: A stitches picture is coming up. I’m still learning about how to “cut-tag” things in WordPress.)

Last night (well, early this morning) I felt a little “thud” by my feet and heard the sqwish, sqwish of kitty feet walking on my featherbed. I looked up and there was my Bebe! I just about melted. I figured she might try to jump up into bed, but I wasn’t sure, so I put a little ottoman at the foot of the bed. She must have used that as a step stool and then got up to the bed. I figured if she went through all that work, she must be feeling a bit better.

And now, some pictures of her stitches and staples. The stitches were from the arm tumor – this was not a mammary tumor. The staples are where the two mammary tumors were.

She only started bruising today. However, she seems to be in pretty good spirits. Currently, *I* seem to be the one falling under the weather! It could be the coffee I had today. I’m on a low- to no-sugar/dairy/gluten/coffee diet. I had some coffee today and ever since then I feel like I can’t get a full breath. Hmm. Of course, it could also be sympathy pains for my sweet Rosie Bee. 🙂

PS: You might notice (it’s hard not to) that she’s a little, um, plump around the middle. She always had a bit of a tummy ever since I adopted her. She gets lots of playtime and reasonable portions of healthy kitty food. I guess that’s just how her body likes to be. She’s my round little baby. 🙂

Rosie was doing better today. I felt so bad for her last night; she was pretty doped up and moved around like a little drunk kitty. I can only imagine how she felt. 😦 She has a cataract on her one eye, but the other pupil was HUGE! My poor muffin. I was so happy to see her this morning – her pupil was a normal size, she seemed a bit more lively, and she was ready with some headbutts.

She didn’t eat this morning, but thankfully my mom stopped by a couple times to check on her. Mom told me that Rosie did end up munching on some food, so that was good.

(Thank you! to everyone who had suggestions about the food! I got some chicken and Rosie loved that. I also heated up some of her canned food, and she responded to that very well, too. I appreciate the tips!)

Tonight was a bit eventful. Rosie didn’t really eat, which had me a bit concerned. Then I pulled out some rotisserie chicken and she has some of that, so I was relieved. After that she took her pain pill like a champ and moseyed off into one of her sitting corners. I kept an eye on her as she seemed to be doing some grooming – I didn’t want her to disrupt any of the stitches or staples, but it seemed okay.

Then she got up to move and ahhh! A little pool of blood! I couldn’t figure out if she’d busted a stitch or not – she wasn’t took keen on me poking around. I did see blood – not a lot, but enough – on her tummy. A quick trip to the vet and we learned that she had some fluid accumulation (not unusual) that has seeped out of the stitched. Our awesome vet cleaned Rosie up and put a little glue on her and voila! She was all patched up.

After all the excitement of the day, I’m a little worn out. But I was able to snap a tiny glimpse of Rosie’s staples. She has both stitches (by her armpit) and staples (on her belly). Hopefully this weekend I can get a snapshot of her whole underside; it’s pretty impressive.

Some of Rosie’s staples

(I like the purple dot on her – it reminds me of those plastic surgery shows where they mark people up before they give them facelifts or tummy tucks, lol.)

I’m happy to say she is now comfortably nestled under the table by my feet. I hope we both get a good, solid night’s sleep tonight. I’m looking forward to this weekend. I think we’ll both spend a lot of time on the couch in front of the tv. Maybe there will be a Cook’s Country marathon on! LOL

I love this picture of Rosie. This was from last Saturday, after our first visit with the awesome new vet.

Day 1 post-op, Rosie is doing okay. Unfortunately, I cannot stay home from work to be with her. Thankfully, my mom will be stopping in throughout the day. While Rosie is moving around okay, I’m ready to call the vet for extra pain meds if need be. In fact, he made a point of saying “don’t hesitate to call,” which was nice. My Rosie is a tough little girl.

She ate some food late last night, but this morning she doesn’t seem interested at all. I even gave her to choices and she walked away from both. Any ideas or suggestions?

I met with the vet this afternoon. Rosie had two mammary tumors. The big one by her armpit wasn’t a mammary tumor, but it was a “very aggressive” cancer. I’m hoping to learn more when the biopsy results come back.

Dr. Tom (vet) said Rosie would be pretty sore, especially by her armpit (front right leg). He had to cut through a lot to remove the tumor. He had to cut out some muscle, hence the super-soreness she’ll be dealing with. She was doped up pretty good when I picked her up. I let her out of her carrier and she’s been trying to be her usual inquisitive self – although she’s weaving around like a drunken sailor. I’ve been trying to get her to sit still. I think maybe after she does a check of everything she’ll settle down. She used her box, which is good. I was worried she’s not be able to with her current balance problem!

Her belly is shaved. She’s got a good amount of stitches (for the armpit-area incisions) and staples on the other two areas. My poor little Bebe. 😦 I hope she can sleep good tonight, so her body will start to heal.

Surgery was a success! The vet removed three tumors, which are going to be biopsied. (I originally found two, but it turns out one of the two was just fatty tissue. Our awesome vet found two more real tumors in the X-rays, for a grand total of three.)

And the fact that Rosie was able to have surgery means something great: The tumors haven’t metastasized! I am ecstatic. I do not know what the future holds; however, I am so thankful that my baby Bee is now tumor-free. Now she can rest, recuperate and be spoiled rotten (haha, like she wasn’t before? :p).

Thank you all for your prayers, purrs and good thoughts! We appreciate them.

I’d been wanting a cat companion for a long time, but it never seemed to work out. (For example, I saw what looked to be a great match at a local humane society, but another family “line jumped.” They ended up adopting her.) A friend forwarded me Rosie’s picture that she found on Craigslist. I immediately fell in love with her and contacted the rescue.

I was pleased that the rescue owner had me fill out a survey, then asked to do a brief phone interview. This was important to me as it shows they were really committed to their kitties – and finding them the right person match.

I brought Rosie home with me in June of 2011. One of the best decisions I ever made. She has been my tireless companion. She is so soft and such a sweetie. At least a dozen times a day I must tell her how beautiful, pretty and/or tiny she is, lol!

Rosie was first Rosalie, but I started calling her “Rosie” every once in a while and then it stuck. Then one day a friend asked why I was calling her “Rosie B.” I didn’t realize I was calling her Rosie B, so I said, “Well, it stands for Beatrice!'” So Rosie’s full name is Rosalita Beatrice. Sometime I call her the Bee, sometimes she is Bebe. But she is always my sweet Rosie-girl.

You may be able to see from the picture that she has a bit of smile and a cataract. There’s some speculation that she was hit by a car. My vet told me that she sustained a pretty significant blow to the left side of her head. 😦 It breaks my heart, but she has never let that get her down! She can run and jump and play with the best of them. She is feisty and fun and sweet as can be. Pet her for a second and her motor starts purring. (I like to call it “the furnace.”) She is not a ‘fraidy cat by any means, and she definitely has her favorite persons.

Rosie’s favorite toys are: the feathers on a stick, the mouse stuffed with catnip, and the string on a stick. I’ll likely do individual posts about those in the future. 🙂

Rosie was pregnant when she came to the rescue. She gave birth, got her jaw fixed up, and recuperated. Then I adopted her, hurrah!

Heartbreaking news

I mention that about her being pregnant because I’m told that is likely a factor in her (and now I’m crying) having mammary tumors. I recently discovered one under her right armpit, and then one on her belly. As soon as I found the one I made an appointment with a vet. Two vets recommended surgery. She’s going in for surgery on Wednesday, Jan. 23 at the second-opinion vet (our new vet, who we are very are happy to be with!). I am praying that they are benign (although I’m told I should prepare myself, as most are malignant). I’m also praying that they haven’t metastasized. But I am very happy with our new vet, and I know my Rosie Bee is in good hands.

Still enjoying happy times!
Rosie is the sweetest kitty I have ever had. She also has the honor of being the first girl cat I’ve had, yahoo. She has been such a blessing in my life. Prayers and purrs that her surgery goes well, and that my sweet girl doesn’t not suffer any (I’ve been through one surgery and it was a drag!). Right now she’s sitting on the ottoman, having herself a nice bath. She is quite the girly kitty, and never likes to have a hair out of place!

We have had lots of good times, me and Rosie B, and we still are! so I hope to have many more positive future entries chronicling this. 🙂